When we went to Holland, every single art museum we attended, with the exception of the Franz Hals house, was under renovation. For. Reals. This seems like terrifically bad planning to me, but hey, I’m not the Dutch government, now, am I? But if I were, I probably would have sped up the TEN YEAR LONG renovation of the Rijksmuseum, and then waited until that was DONE to do the Van Gogh Museum, and THEN dealt with the Mauritshuis in The Hague. I’m just throwing that out there.

That being said, the fact that the majority of the Mauritshuis’ unbearably amazing collection was moved from its home in the center of the city to the Gemeentemuseum outside of the hustle and bustle and U.N. dealings actually ended up being kind of blessing in disguise. Not only is the museum building a gorgeous one, designed by H.P. Berlage, a member of the Amsterdam School, which pleased my mother, but it also currently houses an awesome if vaguely confusing exhibit called Mondriaan and De Stijl, which is fantastic, and they have most of the marvels of the Mauritshuis (except the damn girl with the damn pearl earring which is in JAPAN, are you kidding me? Not cool, Holland, NOT COOL.)

But they also have an exhibit that might actually be relevant on this here sewing blog, and that was one entitled Fabulous Fifties, Fabulous Fashion! It was a pretty cool exhibit, not all that revelatory and trying to paint Holland as the center of fashion development, which, well….

But still, it has some just simply gorgeous pieces, Vintage Dior and Givenchy and even some modern things. And they let you take photos, so, um….

PROM DRESSES! I didn’t know they had prom in Holland.

I love this jacket.

This grey dress looks almost modern, don’t you think? It’s Dior, of course.

Gorgeous details.

I love the bow, and this color is just….

I think that deep purple could have been torn right off of Joan from Mad Men.

Love this draping.

How modern does this jumpsuit look?

Too cute.

How odd are these wigs?

These two cocktail dresses would be right at home in 2013.

Another Dior. Just lovely, don’t you think?

And now some modern takes on vintage looks:

Prada’s 2011 Show:

Alexander McQueen ( I think)

Vivienne Westwood:I love their poses!

It’s always so wonderful to get this close to some beautifully made pieces of clothing. I couldn’t help but share them with you! It almost makes up for this Vermeer nonsense….

Ooof, that’s like the first time I went to London and the V&A’s costume collection was closed. I was all, DON’T YOU KNOW THAT’S WHY I CAME HERE??? But as it turns out, we were gifted with a surprise trip to London the year after, and I got to see it all…so maybe you’ll be gifted with a surprise revisit to Holland next winter break? Ummm, no promises. But gosh, that’s a lovely exhibit. Thanks for sharing your pictures! Those are some truly fabulous dresses!